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  • From: Loren Rosson <rossoiii AT yahoo.com>
  • To: Corpus-paul <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: The purpose of the law in salvation-history
  • Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2001 04:26:30 -0700 (PDT)


I wish to follow up on my previous post by pointing
out a slight (but significant enough) disagreement
with Sanders on my part, which relates to certain
passages in Romans which he believes echoes the
argument of Gal. 3:19-24.

Sanders believes that the Galatians argument is echoed
in Rom. 3:20, 4:15, 5:20, and 11:32 -- and thus that
Rom. 7:7-13 and 7:14-25 both exonerate God (and the
law) from the perverse implications of these texts. As
I said in the previous post, Rom. 7:7-25 "saves God"
at the expense of his sovereignty, and the second half
(verses 14-25) goes even further by exonerating the
law itself from any relationship with sin. Thus
Sanders:

"In one case [Rom. 7:7-13] sin uses the law against
the will of God; in the other [Rom. 7:14-25] God's
will is ineffective because of the weakness of the
created order. This 'saves' God by putting his will on
the side of good, instead of depicting him as
intending to produce sin when he gave the law [as in
Gal. 3:19-24; Rom. 3:20, 4:15, 5:20, 11:32]." (Paul,
the Law, and the Jewish People, p. 85; see also
Sanders' diagrams on p. 75)

Actually, I think lumping Rom. 3:20/4:15/5:20 with
Gal. 3:19-24 is hazardous. I see no implications in
these three texts that sin is attributed to God's
will. Only in Rom. 11:32 does Paul make that
re-connection. Indeed -- especially with Rom. 5:20 --
Paul seems to be anticipating (or paving the way for)
the "Adam/Eve" argument of Rom. 7:7-13 with these
three allusions. So I would slightly revise Sanders'
scheme as follows:


[Sanders]

1. Gal. 3:19-24 (echoed in Rom. 3:20, 4:15, 5:20,
11:32):

-- God gave the law in order to consign humanity to
sin so that he may subsequently save on the basis of
faith.


2. Rom. 7:7-13:

-- God gave the law for obedience and life, but sin
foiled God's intent by working disobedience and death
through the law.


3. Rom. 7:14-25:

-- God gave the law for obedience and life, but sin
foiled God's intent by working disobedience and death
through human flesh.


[Rosson]

As above, only my groupings of the texts would be as
follows:


1. Gal. 3:19-24 (echoed in Rom. 11:32):

-- God gave the law in order to consign humanity to
sin so that he might subsequently save on the basis of
faith.


2. Rom. 7:7-13 (echoed in Rom. 3:20, 4:15, 5:20):

-- God gave the law for obedience and life, but sin
foiled God's intent by working disobedience and death
through the law.


3. Rom. 7:14-25:

-- God gave the law for obedience and life, but sin
foiled God's intent by working disobedience and death
through human flesh.


Loren Rosson III
Nashua NH
rossoiii AT yahoo.com



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